Music Legends - Pavlov's Dog

themagus (68)in #music • 7 years ago

Although not legends, I do state at the bottom of my ML posts that I am covering diverse genre’s of music from the 70’s and I do believe Pavlov’s Dog are worthy of an introduction. For those of you who have never heard their very distinctive style not to mention the vocalist’s distinctive voice, this may prove a listening pleasure.
Pavlov’s Dog formed in ST. Louis in 1972 and their style of music was so called progressive rock. A very rich sound with very clever interweaved instrumentation, superb keyboards and violin with electric lead guitar, and all the way through the voice of David Surkamp.

The band members at the time were David Surkamp on vocals and guitar, Steve Scorfina on lead guitar, keyboards David Hamilton, mellotron and flute Doug Rayburn, Rick Stockton on bass, Mike Saffron an drums and finally strings specialist Siegfried Carver.
Playing on the Midwestern club circuit the band grew a cult following which led them to being a contract with ABC-Dunhill records in 1975. It is unclear what transpired between them and the ABC label, but their first album Pampered Menial was released on the ABC label and almost immediately on the Columbia Records label debuting on the charts.

Julia - from the Pampered Menial album, possibly their best known number.
The following track is a must listen throughout as it clearly highlights the musicianship, intricate keyboards, subtle violin and some serious lead guitar.. all in one tune and it works to my mind admirably.

Of once and Future Kings

The release of their second album At the sound of the bell , and after the subsequent tour Carver left the band prompting them to provisionally name their third album Whatever happened to Siegfried? .

Gold Nuggets - from At the Sound of the bell

Mersey - from At the Sound of the Bell

At the Sound of the Bell was not a commercial success and Columbia Records dumped the group leading to the third album not being produced. The tapes from the sessions were bootlegged mostly under the name The St Louis Hounds. The band eventually broke up in 1978.

From www.allmusic.com a short note on the bootlegged tapes

The St. Louis Hounds; the tapes were released on CD by a German label called TRC in 1994 under the title Third. (Bizarrely, the cover art for Third is quite shamelessly stolen from the cover of Rick Springfield's million-selling Working Class Dog!)

Only You from the abovementioned Third album. It is the first time I have heard it.

Late November - from Pampered Menial and I just love this song. @kiwideb ..listen LOUD.

*She Came Shining” - from At the Sound of the Bell …. The arrangement is really good, especially the keyboards.

I really enjoyed preparing this post despite the fact that Pavlov’s Dog were not legend and they only really produced two albums. One thing that strikes me this time around is that David Surkamp’s voice does distract from what is some awesome music. At times I felt like ‘muting’ the vocals.

Credits:
http://www.metrolyrics.com/pavlovs-dog-lyrics.html
http://www.allmusic.com/artist/pavlovs-dog-mn0000752453/biography
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pavlov's_Dog_(band)